The Supreme Court on Friday gave its nod to the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Undergraduate and Postgraduate (NEET-PG) admissions while upholding the 27 per cent quota for OBCs and 10 per cent for the economically weaker sections (EWS) for 2021-22.
A Bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and A S Bopanna also accepted the recommendations of the Ajay Bhushan Pandey Committee and stuck to the Rs 8 lakh income cut-off for identifying those eligible for the EWS quota for the current admission cycle.
The Bench, while passing the judgment, stated that the validity of the criteria determined by the committee would prospectively be subject to its final order. The court said it will hear the matter in detail in the third week of March.
Here are a few points you need to know before participating in the NEET 2021 counselling process.
Table of Contents
A. NEET Counselling 2021 In Four Rounds
For both UG and PG medical and dental seats, MCC counselling will be conducted in four rounds. These are: AIQ round 1, AIQ round 2, AIQ mop-up round and AIQ stray vacancy round. Till 2020, the MCC conducted NEET counselling in two rounds. Mop-up and other rounds were only for central and deemed universities.
B. Seats Won’t Revert To States
As the four rounds of counselling will also be conducted for seats of state-run colleges contributed towards the central pool and seats at centrally-funded institutions, leftover seats after round 2 will not revert to states. Instead, counselling for those seats will continue in mop-up and stray vacancy rounds.
C. No Fresh Registration In Stray Vacancy Round
Candidates can register afresh for rounds 1, 2 and the mop up round based on their eligibility. However, fresh registration will not be allowed in the stray vacancy round.
D. No Change In Central Institutes’ Counselling Scheme
“The proposed modified scheme of Online 4 rounds of counselling will be in tune with the prevailing norms of counselling (including the fees and security deposit) being followed for Central Institutes/Universities,” the MCC said.
E. Changes In Seat Upgradation Process
Another major change introduced by the MCC in the counselling process is that candidates will not be allowed to apply for upgradation of seats or free exit after round 1. This means after round 1 seat allotment result, candidates can apply for upgradation of seats in round 2. However, after round 2 allotment results, they can not apply for upgradation in the next round, which is the mop-up round and so on.
If a candidate has joined the allotted seat in round 2, he or she can not resign the seat and participate in the further rounds.
However, if they do not join the allotted seat in round 2, they are eligible for the mop up round if they forfeit the security deposit and register fresh.
